Today's children's show in Kathmandu

It went very well. We had children in the audience from three children's homes all within walking distance of the venue. The performers excelled themselves. I found myself a little unsettled by the playlet that showed the innocent village girl being trafficked to the circus. The circus owner and agent could be seen discussing the deal, examining the merchandise and finally beating her. The reason for my disquiet was some of the younger members of the audience laughing at these scenes but then again it was supposed to be a black comedy. The true drama was that these girls were acting out traumatic events from first hand experience and there would have been no laughs in reality. It must have done the actors and the former circus girls who were included in the audience a world of good to see the self-important circus owner being mocked with his turban, cigar, paunch and strut.

I also found myself quite moved to see a play being acted out by Bhejendra. Not only was he the lead actor but he'd also written the play. His female co-star was Sunita. Bhejendra had been freed by us from Kathmandu jail in May 2001 and is now attending one of Nepal's top schools that has done so much for his personal development. Sunita was rescued by us from a circus on Boxing Day 2004 and with our support came top in her (rural) District school exams at the start of this year. We then moved her to an even better school in Kathmandu. Based on today's performance she could be at drama school.

Otherwise the show consisted of dances (Western and Nepali), songs and an awesome display of gymnastics by Bijay and Aman. These two are former circus children now turned muscle men through their daily training at the national stadium in Kathmandu. I have no photos of their performance - it was too good to be looking through a viewfinder (sorry....).